Many portable electronic devices (such as cellular telephones, smart telephones, portable computers, wireless PDAs, and mobile communications devices) enable communication with other persons and provide access to content through a wireless communications network. For example, portable electronic devices may provide access to a variety of data services including Internet services (such as portals, websites, and Internet-provided multimedia), Personal Information Management (PIM) services (associated with calendar events, task items, memos, or other personal information management data items), instant messaging, email messaging, or other social networking applications. In addition to providing access to information, portable electronic devices enable social interaction with other persons via voice communication and messaging.
One feature commonly found in a portable electronic device is an address book. An address book is an application for storing and accessing contact information. Traditionally, address books have included static contact information to assist a user of a portable electronic device in establishing a communication session with a contact stored in the address book. Typical examples of an address book include a phone directory, PIM contact items, and social networking “friends” lists. In some implementations, an address book may be managed on another electronic device such as a desktop or personal computer. A synchronization server or centralized storage server may provide synchronization of an address book to a portable electronic device. This may permit a convenient solution for a user to access an address book from a plurality of electronic devices, including the portable electronic device.
Over the history of portable electronic devices, the features associated with address books have evolved. For example, a network-enabled address book might make use of a network to exchange information among several address books. One type of network-enabled address book is a converged address book (CAB). This may also be referred to as centralized address book, common address book, coordinated address book, or other words that refer to an address book which comprises information exchanged via a network. In some cases, network-enabled address books may be stored at a network-based repository. By storing several converged address books at a network-based repository, a service provider may enable sharing of contact information and interworking of address books using standard data formats. The Open Mobile Alliance is a standardization group that has described the CAB as “an evolution of the address book [that] is expected to serve as a launch pad for similarly evolving services dependent upon contact information.”
In some address books, a user may manually enter information about interests and hobbies of a contact. More recently, social networking tools allow a contact to share information about current thoughts, photos, or profile information. Typically, this information has been manually entered or uploaded by the contact into the social networking tool. The social network software may allow users of the social networking tool to obtain the current profile information regarding the contact. However, using the current features of an address book or shared profiles, it may be difficult to timely and accurately maintain information about the active interests of contacts in an address book.